Book excerpt: Bad Water and Other Stories of the Alaskan Panhandle is a book of short stories set in southeast Alaska on an archipelago about the size of Florida. There are not many people and most of them live in a few small scattered towns. Some live in the more remote areas of the thousands of miles of coastline and hundreds of backwater bays and coves, making a living at whatever is available. Alaska is a place where geography and weather dictate human behavior, and that could mean eating the same dried beans, rice, deer meat and fish for a good part of the year. With no freeways and little law enforcement (a 911call means contacting the Coast Guard), people must learn to be self-sufficient, especially in times of emergencies. Sometimes people make their own solutions to solve problems. If a solution doesn't work and you're still alive, it's time to try another! The folks that live in this remote part of Alaska do whatever it takes to make it work. There's a freedom that can't be had in civilization, but the price is high. These are their stories.